Nobody Expects The Sudoku Inquisition!

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***

Today we try starwarigami's tribute to Michael Palin - presumably because of all the Palin-dromes in the grid :). We love this sudoku, which is original and super-interesting. You can try it at the link below:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits cannot repeat within a cage. The digits in a cage sum to the 'cage total'. Along each line, the cage totals form a palindrome, reading the same from each end. eg R1c1 + r1c2 + r2c1 = r6c1 + r7c1.

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[starwarigami]

Thanks for the feature! It's always a good feeling when my puzzles get a wider audience. Good job!

[roberlucas]

Simon, you transmit happiness, you are happy to solve a puzzle and you do it with beautiful logic and you irradiate peace, happiness, love and logic, everything ends up working correctly.... I dont know how to thank you man, but thank you. Cracking the Cryptic is awesome.

[rpringi]

Simon makes me feel as if this is a teamwork and we are doing a school project together, even though I just show up for the presentation after he has done all the hard work :D

[bluji]

Loved Simon's sudden realization at 27 minutes in that he was indeed 27 minutes into the puzzle :D such pure bewilderment!

[furtvly]

Is there a greater compliment than "I need to look up this author's other work. We should feature them more?"

[zorandrndarevic]

It's not only sudoku... Simon and his comments when solves sudoku is what makes cc sudoku therapeutic! :)

[DronesClubMember]

Our chief weapon is xwings and Ywings....TWO of our weapons are xwing, ywings, and a nice swordfish....amoungst our diverse weaponry are such elements as....

[starwarigami]

Regarding the puzzle title, it stems from both constraints: Mi(Kill) Palin(drome) ;)

[inspiringsand]

Rules: 02:49
Let's Get Cracking: 03:57
Simon's time: 42m33s
Puzzle Solved: 46:30

What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
The Secret: 6x (05:27, 05:29, 05:36, 09:05, 17:45, 20:12)
Bobbins: 2x (14:13, 28:27)
Phistomefel: 2x (02:29, 02:41)

And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 16x (05:18, 09:37, 12:01, 12:54, 12:57, 15:41, 17:59, 19:17, 20:58, 23:47, 27:05, 28:07, 28:35, 35:05, 39:25, 39:25)
By Sudoku: 8x (21:21, 22:38, 36:39, 36:47, 39:51, 40:04, 43:13, 44:32)
Sorry: 6x (20:58, 21:08, 23:54, 27:29, 34:22, 46:39)
Hang On: 4x (10:41, 14:42, 20:07, 40:11)
Pencil Mark/mark: 4x (26:03, 26:08, 34:01, 39:43)
Nonsense: 3x (19:08, 34:22, 34:44)
Lovely: 3x (19:39, 31:35, 31:38)
Beautiful: 3x (10:03, 10:03, 22:50)
Bother: 2x (19:13, 43:01)
The Answer is: 2x (21:36, 24:20)
Clever: 2x (26:29, 38:23)
Surely: 2x (30:48, 44:49)
In Fact: 2x (31:56, 38:00)
We Can Do Better Than That: 2x (25:35, 43:02)
Fabulous: 2x (46:32, 46:32)
Good Grief: 1x (27:31)
Fascinating: 1x (33:17)
Gorgeous: 1x (32:38)
Epiphany: 1x (19:21)
Magnificent: 1x (02:32)
Disappointing: 1x (25:24)
QED: 1x (18:17)
Obviously: 1x (32:42)
Juxtaposition: 1x (35:08)
What Does This Mean?: 1x (16:53)

Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Fifteen (21 mentions)
Two (102 mentions)
Purple (14 mentions)

Antithesis Battles:
Low (10) - High (8)
Even (12) - Odd (10)
Row (12) - Column (7)

FAQ:
Q1: You missed something!
A1: That could very well be the case! Human speech can be hard to understand for computers like me! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!
Q2: Can you do this for another channel?
A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!

[ufdigga]

Beautiful puzzle! Well done starwarigami! I did this before I watched the video, and I knew how the 5 would crack open the puzzle. I was just hoping Simon wouldn't find a way around the deduction. It was absolutely joyful to be able to watch and go "Only 3 more steps to the 5, only 2 more steps to the 5, only 1 more step to the 5! C'mon Simon!"

[piarittersporn]

Unbelievable.... just a few hours ago I stumbled across an interview here on YT from 12/20/1982 with John Cleese and Michael Palin and was still thinking about it when Simon presented his Palin-drome puzzle. Magic! The puzzle is gigantic and I thoroughly enjoyed it smiling.

[lowcrawl]

I love it when someone quotes "A Fish Called Wanda", great movie with a great cast...

[AlphishCreature]

I found a break-in relatively early in this one, thanks to a certain observation. And yes, I did actually manage to solve it already (in 28:35); one of rare cases when I finish the featured puzzle before I would have the time to watch the whole video.
(SPOILERS BELOW)





In the cage sequence going through boxes 2/3/6, there are two full boxes summing to 90 and a group of five cells in box 6. So the total sum must be 90 + extra box 6 cells.
The three left-side cages sum to 45 + R1C7, and by palindrome rule the three right-side cages also sum to 45 + R1C7. So the total sum must be 90 + 2 * R1C7.
Thus, 2 * R1C7 is the same as the sum of extra box 6 cells. Since these are 5 cells with different values, they must sum to at least 15 - actually 16 or 18, because they're a double of R1C7.
But R1C7 cannot be 9, because it must be lower than R2C7 (which is R1C7 + R1C6). So R1C7 must be inevitably 8, and the extra box 6 cells must sum to 16.
Things proceeded pretty smoothly from there. ^^

[tsgsjeremy]

"We will go back to staring at the puzzle." *CRANKS* 'Eye of the Tiger' 😂👍

[chiepah]

"This is actually just doable by, of course, Sudoku." We love you Simon, never change.

[HarleyMaebry]

"45 is an odd number." Everyone expects knowledge bombs from CTC!

[Gonzalo_Garcia_]

17:11 for me. I loved the ruleset, it’s such a great idea to combine cages and palindromes. Great puzzle!!

[frankwales]

"Okay, apart from teachiing us about set-equivalence theory, parity, killer cages, sandwich clues, renban lines, German whispers, the Phistomefel ring, giggly geeky enthusiasm and The Secret, what has Cracking the Cryptic ever done for us?"

[KevFrost]

Well that was a surprise. A surprise and fear.
Surprise, fear and a ruthlessly efficient solve
And an almost fanatical devotion to putting 3 in a corner

[JohnRandomness]

6:30 The 79 (along with a few 6789s) was my opening salvo, and as usual, I'm stuck about further progress. I assume it has something to do with boxes, lines, sets, and scrabble tiles -- something I still usually can't spot. I can see that blue + purple + gray = 45 + R1C7, but what can I do with it?
9:40 I've placed my first digit! The conclusion from the analysis in which I paused in the middle is that the orange 79 must be a 9, and the 234 combination for the 9 is ruled out.
12:55 Is Michael Palin a relative of Sarah Palin? Explaining to practice expressing my ideas. (Nobody needs this, of course.) Long-purple needs 1234 and either 5 or 6. Two of 1234 can be put off to the right, but a third in the orange crashes. So 124 and 234 are ruled out, leaving only 135 and 126. Also, this leaves 789 for the top and bottom three cells.
27:20 At a similar position, I spent a lot of time and mental effort on column 6, including the bottom three cells -- they added to 10 or 11, for example. I eventually went to including the two purple cages. I had to keep juggling "this particular choice of 1 and 2", "that particular choice of 3 and 4", "37 vs 46" as choices in the middle-block yellow cages and elsewhere, etc. By now, I can't remember most of how I managed to slice and dice and carve things out and disambiguate various things.

There was never any point where the puzzle cracked, except possibly right near the end.

28:20 At some point, I added the red and gray cages (box 9 and row 7). I might have forced something in one of the cages before this, but the result was another case of the minimum being the maximum. and the maximum being the minimum.
30:40 I remember now. It was after I placed 3 at the end of the red row. Adding the column cages gave a minimum of 32, because of the 78 pair.. Adding the row cages gave a maximum of 33 (98763). 33 in the column cages was impossible, so the sum was 32. I got quite a bit from that.
31:40 Getting the 5 that way was brilliant.
34:30 Do it! Do it!